Marcie Alvis Walker is writing goodness into the world

Why wouldn’t we want all stories together? We miss out when we’re segregated.

Marcie’s stories open the door to her home and her heart - and, somehow, to your own. She once wrote that newsletters are like the Off-Broadway productions of what’s happening in Midtown. Her recent Love Letters on Substack feel like the main show: intimate, arresting, and something you carry with you long after it’s over. She doesn’t turn away from sorrow or injustice, but she shows us another way to live in this world: magically, generously, full of care.

In this conversation, we talk about home - the one you carry inside you - and the different forms it can take. We talk about her memoir Everybody Come Alive, we talk about hobbits and banned books, paper dolls and Toni Morrison, childhood beauty and the moments that made it feel fragile. We talk about bookstores and “staying in your lane,” and why joy and romance matter just as much to the work of change as outrage or protest.

Marcie Alvis-Walker is a writer, theologian, and cultural critic. Her work explores the sacred beyond the walls of institutional religion, and invites deep reckonings with history, belonging, and how we care for each other.

I don’t know if we can overcome the loneliness of this internet era while within online spaces, like this one. I don’t know if it’s possible to truly be together in fragmented, digital places. But I do know that Marcie is applying romance, beauty, and enchantment to that question.

Imagination Invitation

Marcie invites you to choose a sacred text... Not necessarily scripture, but any story, book, or world where the hero wins in the end. Let it be your place of return, a source of beauty, magic, and resilience. Marcie shares that the sacred text can be any story that you connect to: The Lord of the Rings, an Emily Henry romance, or a favorite video game. Lean into the stories that remind you of wonder and carry you through difficult times.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Marcie’s book Everybody Come Alive
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The role of "small joys" - let Meghan Markle make her platters!

Ideas? Visions? Imaginaries? Email [e-mail].

This episode was edited by Angela Ohlfest, typographer from Simon Walker, music from Cosmo Sheldrake.